


panacea

by nascar



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, based on the scene from howl's moving castle when he gets gooed bc he's sad, hyuck is sick, mark is on: operation boyfriend, pray for my homie mark. aint nothing wrong with him he's just dating hyuck, vampire! mark, witch! hyuck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-28
Updated: 2018-10-28
Packaged: 2019-08-09 05:26:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16443755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nascar/pseuds/nascar
Summary: A sick Donghyuck is a dangerous Donghyuck. A sick Donghyuck comes with an insidious nature for dissembling and being a general pain in the ass. Also an ungodly amount of ectoplasmic goo that seeps from every pore until he resembles the blob from an old horror movie that Mark was probably alive for the premier of. Nursing him back to health purely relied on Mark’s equanimity, or attempt to uphold his patience. Jeno would say it’s the thought that counts.





	panacea

**Author's Note:**

> i didnt proof this at all but happy halloween cowboys

There are several things that Mark finds endearing about his boyfriend. In no particular order he can list them in his head, a embarrassingly familiar agglomeration of trivial details. There’s the lurid orange halo of curls and unkempt locks Donghyuck sports atop his head, it becomes unearthly untidy when he’s brewing potions. Then, there’s the odd bend of his pinky, a souvenir from a bad duel from his youth. Or the way his voice is scratchy and syrupy at the same time early in the morning, like honeycomb. 

 

There’s the way he kisses too, messy and erratic but sticky on the heart and sweet in the veins. Something about the way he’s never saw Mark’s status as a blood sucking monster as anything near hindering. Always accepting, always loving. Always wiping the crimson mess from Mark’s chin with a steady hand and tender eyes. 

 

However, as textbook perfect as Donghyuck is, Mark can’t help but hate one thing. Donghyuck’s raging independence complex. There’s nothing more infuriating than being made to sit out on Donghyuck’s toughest struggles. He refused help on anything; ranging from getting something from the highest shelf to pushing Mark away when he was physically injured. 

 

That’s exactly how Mark end’s up at Donghyuck’s doorstep, brewing in an odd mixture of annoyance and worry that only the witch can draw out of him. Yuta had sent a text to Mark around noon about sending Donghyuck home from work early, that the younger boy didn’t seem well. His exact words had been to “proceed with caution.” 

 

Mark had immediately braced himself, a sick Donghyuck is a dangerous Donghyuck. More dangerous than usual anyways. A sick Donghyuck comes with an insidious nature for dissembling and being a general pain in the ass. Also an ungodly amount of ectoplasmic goo that seeps from every pore until he resembles the blob from an old horror movie that Mark was probably alive for the premier of. Nursing him back to health purely relied on Mark’s equanimity, or attempt to uphold his patience anyways. Jeno would say it’s the thought that counts. 

 

Jeno also isn’t dating the world's most difficult witch so maybe Mark should stick to his own personal philosophies. The ones that involve a heavy toll on his fight or flight instincts. 

 

After several heavy knocks, which is saying something as Mark’s vampiric strength can deliver some pretty packing punches, there is no answer. 

 

Mark can already tell what kind of day he’s going to have. 

 

After an attempt to get Donghyuck to open up the old school way, Mark decides to grant himself the carte blanche in the situation and promptly breaks the doorknob. His boyfriend can magic it back later. 

 

The first step inside the apartment threatens to choke what little life is left residing in Mark’s chest. The room is filled with the sickly cloying smell of lemons and stale breathe. The overpowering feeling of  _ sick _ infests every corner of the darkness. Mark covers his nose quickly and shuffles inside, making his way around the stacks of books and hedonistic plants that outstretch their tendrils towards him. 

 

Inside Donghyuck’s bedroom, the usual tick and titter of his odd trinkets are audible, whirring away in the dark. Quieter than usual, as if they can sense the monster that lurks under those sheets. 

 

Donghyuck remains unmoving under the blankets though obviously awake. The scent of rancid lemons is stronger now.

 

The sight is pathetic. And in that spirit Mark decides to put an end to the pity party and rips the curtains wide open.

 

Donghyuck moans in pain, burrowing further into the blankets and away from Mark. In the light the green hue the younger boy has taken on is more apparent. Where he rolls away from the mattress a slimy residue follows. It disconnects from Donghyuck’s feverish skin with a sticky ripping noise that makes Mark cringe. 

 

“Go away,” Donghyuck rasps. His voice that usually sounds heady and sweet has turned rough at the edges and wet in the middle. 

 

“Hyuck i’m here to help,” Mark tries to sound authoritative and calming at the same time but if he’s being honest it comes out as a despondent whine. 

 

“I don’t want help. I want sleep, and darkness.” Donghyuck’s words are muddled by the twittering and bubbling of the apartment around them but Mark is able to catch what Donghyuck spoke into the blanket over the whirring of the magic clock that never tells the right time. 

 

Mark’s huffs peevishly, looking around the apartment. First he’s looking for something that might be handy to chuck at the witch but then his eyes catch on something else, a shelf of odd soaps and lotions. Mark has an idea. 

 

In his head he throws together a perfunctory plan of action. Does it have a ninety-eight percent chance of getting Donghyuck to smite Mark’s eyebrows of the face of the earth, and by extension his own face? Yes. Does it also have a high rate of possible success? Undetermined. Mark decides the plan is foolproof. 

 

Rolling up his sleeves, Mark sends a prayer to his long dead mother and a sweet telepathic goodbye to his ever understanding roommate Jeno. If Mark was going to die, at least he was going down for a cause. 

 

“Alright then,” Mark starts, and takes the first step forward, like every great hero starting their long and perilous journey. “If you won’t get up i’ll just have to make you.”

 

With those last words of steely compromise and measured courage, Mark nudges an unrecognizable lump out of the way of his path and slips a hand under the blanket Donghyuck is seeking shelter under. 

 

A low whine of warning bubbles from the witch’s chest but Mark can’t back down now. 

 

He grasps hold of something slimy that he quickly identifies as Donghyuck’s ankle and tugs. Hard. 

 

It’s hard to keep a grasp on but Mark manages. Maybe he cheats with a little added vampire strength but it was only fair. 

 

“Mark Lee I don’t care if you’re already dead, you let go of me right now or you’ll die again.” 

 

Usually, Mark would be intimidated but right now he’s a man on a mission. 

 

“Sorry babe, no can do.” Marks speaks through gritted teeth. 

 

The place where their skin meets is slippery and is only becoming harder to keep a hold on but Mark is stubborn and progress is progress. 

 

Finally, with no help from Donghyuck, Mark has pulled him to the foot of the bed where Donghyuck’s knees meet Mark’s hips. 

 

Donghyuck peers up at him from where he lies on the bed, he looks sulky and feverish and  _ green _ for god sake but Mark still thinks he’s pretty in the mornings. 

 

“You know I hate you right?” Donghyuck seethes. 

 

Mark grins big and wide and with no room for disagreement or contempt. 

 

Dragging Donghyuck to the bathroom is a long and strenuous process that consists of three ill-placed punches and an agglomeration of colorful curses that Mark hadn’t even known existed. It all comes to fruition when Mark finally wrangles the younger boy onto the closed toilet seat to peel his shirt off. It comes off with the same sticky noises from earlier and a look to rival satan’s own glare- which Jaemin swears, ironically enough, by  _ God _ that he’d seen in person when he’d been turned vampire. 

 

Mark gently maneuvers around the odd plants growing through the roof and entangling the cabinets. 

 

The green goo that seeps through the pores of Donghyuck’s skin have lessened but he’s still unbelievably clammy and smells strongly of lemons. 

 

“I outta make you eat a bible,” Donghyuck mumbles, barely audible over the running water from the bath.

 

Mark doesn’t take it to heart. He knows how Donghyuck can get when he’s sick like this. 

 

“Feel free to,” Mark says lightly, while tugging the younger’s pajama bottoms down his long legs, “Lets get you fighting fit first though.” 

 

Donghyuck glares at him harder. “Stop making it so hard to hate you.”

 

Something in Mark’s chest melts like warm butter. If this was as close as they’d get to sweet talking, well Mark would take what he could get. 

 

Donghyuck focuses on making himself as much as a nuisance as possible but Mark eventually is able to settle the dead weight of his boyfriend into the steaming water. 

 

The air is perfumed by lavender mist and somehow overpowers the reek of slime and lemons. Donghyuck seems to dissolve under the water, much to Mark’s amusement. The green slime becomes less goopy and turns to a runny green soluble material. Mark sits on his knees next to the tub, wiggling his waist away from an outstretching feeler of some obscure plant. Donghyuck brings his head above water to give Mark a wary look but stays still overall. 

 

Uncapping a shampoo from the agglomeration of potions and multicolored bottles, Mark makes his intentions clear. However, Donghyuck seems to be taking a break from giving the vampire hell and sits still. 

 

Mark lathers up the sweet smelling soap between his palms before reaching for his boyfriend’s hair. For all the fight the smaller boy put up he sure does become awfully compliant under Mark’s hands, going to far as to elicit a quiet contented moan that sets Mark’s cheeks ablaze. 

 

“Aren’t you enjoying this a little too much?” Mark asks, teasing. 

 

Donghyuck scowls but keeps his eyes closed, pushing his head further into Mark’s open palm. 

 

The vampire laughs light and airy and goes back to massaging the soap into the tangle of vibrant orange. The younger boy sinks further into the mound of bubbles, covering the lower half of his face in a foamy mask. The heavy steam coupled with Donghyuck’s heated skin in the is just enough to warm up Mark’s finger tips. 

 

When Donghyuck has been scrubbed clean and his skin returns back to a semblance of it’s usual coruscant fervor, Mark pulls the drain on the tub and opens his arms wide with a fluffy towel hung between them. 

 

Donghyuck has some trouble standing in his hazy state so Mark wraps him up himself and carries him out of the room, a move that would have quickly been a death sentence if his boyfriend had been well. 

 

Mark lays the bundle of orange and witch on the couch, cradling his head as he removes a stack of conspicuously titled magazines. 

 

Once Mark is sure that his boyfriend is comfortably and he’s pulled a throw blanket up to the younger’s chin, he starts to step back to go make him some herbal tea or clean up the bed. However he doesn’t make it far because a hand shoots out and shackles his wrist effectively in a warm grasp. 

 

“Stay.” Hyuck demands, voice husky. 

 

Mark’s heart flips for the second time today and sighs. 

 

“I gotta make sure you get better baby,” Mark tells him, thumbing at the webbing between Donghyuck’s thumb and pointer. “Lemme clean up a bit and make you something and then i’ll come back. You can nap.” 

 

Donghyuck says nothing but his grip relaxes a bit and Mark smiles at his paradox of a boyfriend. 

 

“I’ll be right back for you.” 

 

Donghyuck hums. 

 

Mark slips out of the boy’s grip but the honey in his chest doesn’t dissolve for the rest of the night. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> 1 comment = 1 yeehaw


End file.
